Dishonor

05.28.14

Her Family Beat Farzana Parveen to Death

Furious that she married against their wishes, a Pakistani family beat a young pregnant woman to death yesterday. Her father stood by.

In Lahore on Tuesday, 25-year-old Farzana Parveen was publicly beaten to death by her brothers and other family members as her father watched. She was three months pregnant. Although the so-called “honor" killing took place in a busy court complex, no one intervened. Enraged that she married someone other than a cousin who had been chosen for her, Farzana’s family attacked her outside the court where she was due to challenge the accusation that she’d been kidnapped by her husband. All of her attackers escaped although her father was arrested. The Guardian reports that according to the women's campaign group the Aurat Foundation, about 1,000 Pakistani women are killed every year in "honor killings" committed by their families. Said Abid Saqi, a former head of the Lahore high court bar association,"This is a tragic and unfortunate event right in front of the doors of justice. This person was mutilated to bits in public and it shows the complete breakdown of law and order."